PORT ELIZABETH, June 18, (Agencies): Serbia stunned Germany with a 1-0 win after Miroslav Klose was sent off and Lukas Podolski missed a penalty in Group D on Friday to secure their first World Cup victory as an independent nation.
Milan Jovanovic grabbed the winner in the 38th minute with Germany in disarray moments after striker Klose was sent off for a foul that landed him with a second yellow card.
Germany should have equalised in the 61st when Nemanja Vidic needlessly handled in the area but goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic dived to his left to save Podolski’s spot kick.
The result takes the shine off a young German side that came into the match high on confidence after hammering Australia 4-0 in their opener and gives World Cup newcomers Serbia a chance to reach the second round after they lost 1-0 to Ghana.
Germany still lead Group D with three points from two games, ahead of Ghana and Serbia, also on three, and Australia on none. Ghana and Australia meet on Saturday in their second game.
“I believed my players could do this,” said Serbia coach Radomir Antic. “If this is the return of the fighters I don’t know but we have to remain positive about ourselves.

Opportunity
“We’ve a great opportunity where we depend only on ourselves in the next match. This is a very important win for our people.”
At the 2006 World Cup in Germany Serbia & Montenegro had lost all three group matches, conceding 10 goals, before they began competing as separate countries.
“We had eight yellow cards and (a second) yellow (for Klose), I think this was not necessary,” said disappointed Germany coach Joachim Loew.
“There were a couple of tackles where I felt the yellow cards were justified but there were many... given for tackles that weren’t malicious at all and could have been avoided.”
Until Klose’s dismissal the Germans had been in control of the match, playing with attacking flair, fast breaks and fluid movement off the ball that left Serbia on the back foot.
The three-times World Cup winners’ bright start saw them create a chance after three minutes when Sami Khedira found space and volleyed over after a neat cross by Thomas Mueller.
They kept up the pressure and came close again four minutes later, when Mueller’s dangerous cross was partially cleared by Vidic and volleyed just wide by Podolski.
The Serbs squandered their first chance after 12 minutes when Milos Ninkovic found himself with time and space but blasted Milos Krasic’s inch-perfect cross over the bar. Mueller and Klose always looked threatening for Germany but the altter’s frustrations mounted after he missed chances and had a goal ruled out for offside on the half-hour mark.
The game was turned upside down seven minutes later when the German forward was given his marching orders after receiving a second booking for bringing down Milos Krasic.
With the Germans stunned, Serbia took full advantage and snatched the lead a minute later with a superb team effort that culminated in Jovanovic’s close-range strike.

In Johannesburg, the United States made a dramatic comeback from two goals down at halftime to draw 2-2 with Slovenia and rescue their World Cup chances on Friday.
Slovenia took a surprise 2-0 lead by halftime, outplaying the Americans and scoring with goals from Valter Birsa in the 13th minute and Zlatan Ljubijankic in the 42nd.
But Landon Donovan scored a brilliant individual goal three minutes after the break and as the Americans poured forwards, Michael Bradley, son of coach Bob Bradley, grabbed an equaliser eight minutes from time.
The US nearly won the game five minutes from the end when a free kick was swung into the Slovenia area and Maurice Edu directed the ball into the net but the referee blew for an infringement. US players protested furiously and were left fuming at the decision after the game.
“I am a little bit gutted to be honest. I don’t know how they stole that third goal from us. It’s too bad because that was a fair goal I think,” Donovan said.
“I saw a good finish and a good goal. I’m not sure what the call was, he wouldn’t tell us what the call was.”
US coach Bradley was also puzzled by the decision.
“We still don’t know why the goal was disallowed...Noone knows. It is important to understand that the players put a lot of emotion into the game and now they want a fair outcome,” coach Bradley said. Slovenia coach Matjaz Kek said his team had lost concentration in the second half.
“It was a really tough match and my team showed they were of high quality. We gained a point today and we are in a very good position. Now we need to recover to prepare for England,” he told reporters.
Slovenia lead Group C with four points from the US on two. England, with one point so far, play Algeria, with none, later in Cape Town.

Woeful
In Cape Town, a woeful England failed to find the killer touch in a disappointing 0-0 draw with Algeria on Friday, putting them under huge pressure to beat Slovenia in their final World Cup group game.
Fabio Capello’s team, under the cosh already after their much-criticised 1-1 opener against the United States, struggled to find any rhythm and gave the ball away far too easily, doing little to silence their detractors.
It was a poor performance from Capello’s team with players looking tired and devoid of spark.
The big news ahead of the game was the axing of West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green after his blunder against the USA with veteran David James taking over.
Gareth Barry also returned from an ankle injury, but he struggled and was largely ineffective.
Skipper Steven Gerrard was the first to trouble the Algerians with a cross-cum-shot that ‘keeper M’bohi Rais Ouheb, prefered to Faouzi Chaouchi after their 1-0 loss to Slovenia, had to jump high to collect. James got into the game on 11 minutes when he punched clear a looping cross on his goal line, not entirely convincingly but good enough to avert the danger.
Some of the players were nervy and the heart of Jamie Carragher, playing in place of the injured Ledley King, would have been pumping even harder after his fluffed clearance had to be stopped by James.
England couldn’t get going and Algeria was seeing plenty of the ball. It was clear that Capello, celebrating his 64th birthday, was none too pleased, angrily pacing the dugout.

James was tested again when his Portsmouth teammate Nadir Belhadj whipped in a corner under the England bar, claiming it impressively this time under pressure from two Algerians.
England finally started to wake up and Gerrard got a shot on target near the half-hour mark before Frank Lampard had a great chance, collecting the ball in the box after some nice build-up play.
He unleashed a left-footed drive but the keeper saved.
Capello would have given them a piece of his mind in the dressing room but they didn’t look much better when they came out, with a scrappy start to the second-half.
Gerrard and Lampard sparked some interest when they combined nicely but the Liverpool star’s cross was awful, straight to the feet of an opponent when he had three players in the box.
To make matters worse Carragher picked up a yellow card — his second of the tournament — meaning he is out of the Slovenia match.
The cumbersome Heskey, meanwhile, should have done better inside the penalty area with 18 minutes left but his shot was deflected over for a corner.
In a last role of the dice, Capello brought on Shaun Wright-Philipps for Aaron Lennon, Jermain Defoe for Heskey and Peter Crouch for Barry, but despite picking up the pace the breakthrough remained elusive.